


Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow

by rixsig-writes (rixsig)



Category: Ensemble Stars! (Video Game)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, long distance, rei and anzu being just a litttttttle bit meddlesome
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-10
Updated: 2019-08-11
Packaged: 2020-08-14 14:48:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20194021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rixsig/pseuds/rixsig-writes
Summary: After graduation Kaoru resigns himself to admiring Shu from a distance, but Itsuki Shu has other plans.[A oneshot collection based on the round 3 ESO prompts]





	1. Memories and Recordings

**Author's Note:**

> this chapter inspired by the 'memories and recordings' prompt

Once upon a time graduation loomed on the horizon like a death sentence. That was going to be the end of his life, you know? Or at least all the life that Kaoru ever cared about. But somehow instead things turn out like this: Undead lives on, Kaoru rooms with Rei, and…Anzu sends him letters.

It’s cute doing something old-fashioned like this. Kaoru’s more used to the freedom of rapid-fire texting, but it’s good practice. Kaoru has this little fantasy that once he gets used to it he’ll finally have the guts to send a letter to a certain old-fashioned someone he hasn’t seen since they were classmates last year, but...well. Hah. That probably won’t happen. 

Kaoru slides a thumb under the lip of the newest envelope and teases it open. It feels a little heavier in his hands than usual, which means Anzu probably sent some sort of surprise along with it. Last time it was a fox keychain—’Doesn’t it look a lot like you?’ she had said—and the time before that had been a whole bunch of pictures of Koga and Adonis, now in their senior year together with her.

Kaoru pulls a bundle out of the envelope, and yeah, it looks like pictures again this time. Nice. That’ll give him a good excuse to pester them, be the doting upperclassman he could never quite let himself be before he graduated. 

Then he flips one over and drops them all in shock. 

“Oh my god??” 

Scattered across the floor are pictures from last year’s school festival. And not just _ any _ pictures from last year’s school festival. Pictures of Valkyrie’s haunted dollhouse. 

Kaoru puts his burning face in his hands but ends up peeking through his fingers, too fascinated to look away. Back then he’d been so absorbed in the butler cafe idea and getting Anzu’s attention that the whole rest of the school might as well have been background noise. Later in the year though, when things started changing, he’d heard it mentioned offhand a couple times. Shu dressed up like that...God, he’d wished that he could jump backwards through time just to see it. 

Kaoru slowly crouches down and peels a sticky note off the face of one photo. ‘I was going through this year’s school festival photos when I found these too! I went ahead and made copies for you.’

He isn’t sure whether to be impressed or terrified at how well she’s skewered him.

A knock at the door makes Kaoru jump, and he scrambles to gather the photos up from the floor as the door creaks open, Rei shuffling in through the gap. “Kaoru-kun, you know how to make a phone do a ‘video call,’ don’t you? I’m having some trouble getting it to connect.”

Kaoru makes a show of rolling his eyes as he stuffs the photos haphazardly back into the envelope. “Come on, haven’t I showed you how to do that already?”

“Ah, perhaps in my old age—”

“If you finish that sentence by saying you have dementia I’m going to leave and make you figure it out yourself.” 

Rei chuckles and waits for him to come over, eyes flicking towards the envelope in Kaoru’s hand with interest. Kaoru shifts it behind himself so fast it’s probably suspicious, but whatever, it’s fine. Better than Rei getting a glimpse at what Anzu sent him. 

“So first I pull up the contact in my address book,” Rei says, squinting at the screen. “And then press this button here and then...oh! Well, would you look at that. It looks like it’s working this time.”

The sight of Shu hits Kaoru like a slap of saltwater.

“Accrochez-vous…” Shu mutters, seeming dissatisfied. The sound of brisk footsteps comes over the line and then the light goes on, the screen centering more perfectly on Shu. “On y va! Is this working? Oh, there you are. Good morning, Rei. If you’re so eager to see my face you should at least have the courtesy to visit.”

“Oh, you know there’s nothing I’d love more,” Rei replies, hooking an arm through Kaoru’s before he has the chance to escape, “but I have a couple more lives to do with this one here in Japan before I’m free to roam.”

“Ahaha...don’t pin it all on me, you’ll make me seem like the bad guy.”

Kaoru’s hand tightens on the envelope until it crinkles, overly conscious of it. Other than the odd snap on his phone—one from that time at the arcade, Shu lingering at the corner of the frame with toy gun in hand like some vengeful spirit ready to send Eichi into the afterlife, and one of Mademoiselle in the classroom, Shu’s hands carefully arranging her pose—Kaoru’s never had the opportunity to pour over pictures of him that weren’t. You know. Fan merch that he could look up online. And now here he is, fist full of incriminating photos while Shu Itsuki himself stares at him like Kaoru’s reached through the screen and flicked him right on the nose. 

“H...Hakaze?! Ah...I suppose I should have expected...considering...”

“Hey.” Kaoru’s hands start to sweat. “Long time no see?”

Shu keeps staring.

Kaoru sweats harder. “Um…”

Half the photos slip out of the open envelope and slide across the floor, breaking the stalemate.

“Oh ho~?” Rei’s eyes glint, and he crouches down. “Now those bring back memories! However did you get your hands on them, Kaoru-kun? Don’t tell me you’ve been hanging onto them all this time without telling me.”

“Hey!” Kaoru snatches one out of Rei’s quick grasp. “Anzu-chan sent them, okay?”

“What on earth are you two talking about?” says Shu, vexed. “Rei, I can’t see a thing like this. And. And for heaven’s sake repaint your walls. That discoloration is unsightly.”

“Ah, my apologies, Shu.” Rei plucks another photo off the floor before Kaoru can stop him. In it Shu sits in his doll costume, fake blood splattered on the white parts of the kimono, glassy eyes staring sightlessly past the camera. Rei turns it to face his phone. “Remember this? Too bad I didn’t have the chance to visit while the festival was in full swing…I heard marvelous things about your performance.”

Shu preens. “Of course.”

“Although that devotion to your act made quite a stir when you wouldn’t respond to anyone’s attempts at conversation.”

“And what else was I to do? Open the door to interaction with a horde of complete _ strangers _? Detestable.”

“But surely there are plenty of strangers to meet over there in France. I hope you aren’t—”

Kaoru takes the opportunity while they’re distracted to gather up the rest of the photos. Maybe they’ll be too caught up in reminiscence to notice him slipping away. The last thing Kaoru wants to do right now is to talk to Itsuki Shu with _ no _ plan while Rei is watching on with knowing amusement. 

“—although I’d have to say it suited you the most, Hakaze.” 

Kaoru promptly forgets how walking works. “What?”

“The costumes for that cafe of yours.”

“You…” Kaoru clears his throat, messes with his hair. “I didn’t think you would have dropped by.”

Shu waves a hand. “I didn’t actually enter. It was horrifically crowded in there and the dessert looked atrocious. But I did take a moment to pass by and have a look. I was curious about the outfits the young lady was pushing herself so hard over.”

“Haha, so you liked them then~?”

“You...certainly seemed in your element.” Shu remarks, eyes flicking away for a second before landing back on Kaoru, face tinted ever so slightly pink. 

The thrill of that makes Kaoru a bit reckless. He winks. “Well I had to do justice to Anzu-chan’s hard work, right?”

Shu hums, fingers idly tracing the edges of the brooch at his throat. “You said the young lady sent you those photos, did you not?” The fingers pause. There’s a certain intensity to Shu’s gaze now that makes Kaoru suddenly feel short of breath. “I might have to ask her for some photos of my own.”

The conversation moves on, Rei floating out of the room with Shu still on his phone, and the moment they leave Kaoru staggers over to his bed and sits down, whooshing out an exhale. Did that just happen? Hey, Shu isn’t going to ask Anzu for pictures just for Kaoru in the butler outfit, right? Right?? If Kaoru didn’t know any better, it almost seemed like Shu was...was maybe flirting with him or someth…

Kaoru fumbles for the paper and pen on his desk and starts writing, heart in his throat.

He’s got a letter to send.


	2. Out On a Date

Kaoru waits two weeks for a reply. He’s not sure how long it takes for a letter to get to France or how long it takes to send one back. Is two weeks not enough time? Is it on its way yet at least? Or maybe…maybe…

He flings himself into his room and starts changing into a different outfit. He needs to go out and do something or he’s going to dive off the deep end. There’s too many what ifs. What if Shu’s just a flirtier person now and all that stuff during the video call didn’t mean anything? What if the letter got lost in the mail? What if  _ Shu’s _ letter got lost in the mail? What if it’s taking so long because Shu doesn’t know how to turn him down gently?

Rei pokes his sleepy head out of his own room and squints through the noon sunlight as Kaoru strides to the front door. “Hm...are you sure you want to be in such a rush today?” he says cryptically before his head disappears back into the darkness.

Kaoru lingers, uncertain, hand already on the doorknob. “We don’t have any PR stuff to do until tomorrow, right?”

No response. Well. If Rei needs him he’s got Kaoru’s number. It’s not like he’s planning to go that far. Kaoru shakes his head, yanks the door open…

...and comes nose to nose with Itsuki Shu.

“I...Itsuki-kun?!” Kaoru wheezes. 

Shu’s eyes widen in surprise, hand outstretched like he’d been half-way through the motion of a knock. Then his face melts into a smile, way too soft and open than Kaoru had ever been prepared for. “Ah, I’d almost forgotten what it was like to see your face in person. That ‘video call’ was such a poor substitute.”

Kaoru feels like he’s disintegrating. “Uh...um.” He closes his mouth and tries again. “Aren’t you supposed to be in France right now?”

“I’ll be going back in time for my project deadline; there’s not a thing to worry about.” Shu answers absently, seeming much more interested in combing his eyes over every inch of Kaoru’s person. “You’re dressed well. Do you have any plans for the day?”

“Not really…?”

“Excellent!” Shu says, beckoning with a crisp heel turn. “Let’s be off then.” 

“Wait, wait, wait!” Kaoru waves his arms around. “What’s going on? Why are you here? Where are we going?”

Shu turns back to face him, perplexed. “You sent me a letter.” 

Kaoru’s face erupts into flames. “Aha. Um. Yeah.” 

“And you were quite forward with your intentions in it.” Shu takes a flower Kaoru had been too shocked to notice before and tucks it behind Kaoru’s ear, very efficiently pinning it in place. “Having a proper date is only natural, non?”

Kaoru feels the afterimage of those fingers in his hair, and for a long, dazed moment he wishes they were still in there. He leans heavily against the doorframe and desperately grasps at any remaining shreds of his laidback charm. Ask. Just get it over with and  _ ask _ . “So. Is this a ‘yes,’ or is this...?”

Shu looks incredibly confused just long enough for Kaoru to figure out what a heart attack feels like. Then Shu laughs softly, a lot like Mademoiselle used to. “Hakaze,” he says, taking Kaoru’s chin delicately in his hand. “Do you think I do anything by half measures?”

By the time Kaoru’s recovered from that they’re already on the way to the aquarium. 

Shu buys the tickets—Kaoru had  _ tried _ to cut in, but all Shu had done in response was ‘kakakaka’ and tell him that if he pleased he could plan their next date—so all Kaoru can do is stare at their reflections in the ticket window glass. There’s Kaoru’s own face, blushing and more than a little stunned still, red hibiscus perfectly arranged in his hair. There’s Shu’s, warm and relaxed in a way it never was in school. 

Kaoru had been worried about what would happen to a guy like that all the way overseas—he knows a little about Shu’s difficulties with people, having been in the same class and all—but it looks like it’s been good for him. He seems settled in his own skin, the weight lifted off his shoulders. His ramrod straight posture doesn’t seem so defiant anymore, just self-assured. Like he’s not constantly afraid of having to defend himself. It’s really…

“Hakaze?”

Kaoru snaps out of his thoughts to the soft touch of a handkerchief just under his eye. Kaoru’s always been a bit of a crybaby, but it’s been a lot harder to keep it under wraps since graduating. It’s probably the same for him too, he thinks. Since leaving his father’s house he doesn’t feel like he has to be on guard all the time anymore.

Kaoru sniffs discreetly, waves off the concern before Shu can start expressing it. “I’m fine, I’m fine. Just got lost in thought for a second. Hey, come on, let’s go! There’s a couple exhibits in here I really wanna show you~”

Shu’s been unfairly cool for the past half hour, so Kaoru has his revenge by being his tour guide, leading him around by the hand and showing him all the most beautiful creatures the sea has to offer. It’s hugely satisfying to see Shu fluster when their fingers curl around each other, to see his eyes widen with admiration when Kaoru shows off his favorite displays. And Shu might squint at the cotton candy Kaoru buys like he’s encountering an old, bitter nemesis, but when Kaoru tears a bite off Shu still lets him bring it to his mouth, his lips like satin again Kaoru’s fingertips. 

Shu’s nose wrinkles and Kaoru laughs. “Not changing your mind on that one, huh?”

“It’s  _ spun sugar _ , there’s nothing of value in it whatsoever,” Shu huffs, watching as Kaoru gleefully stuffs a big bite in his own mouth. “I’ll have to take you to a real confectionery in France one of these days.”

“Oh yeah? Only if you eat the rest of this with me.” Kaoru winks, waving another bite in front of Shu’s face. 

Shu turns his nose up at it.

“Come on,” Kaoru cajoles, “I promise I’ll let you kidnap me for a sweets date whenever you want~”

Shu’s hand suddenly locks around Kaoru’s wrist, his teeth delicately plucking the sugary fluff from his grasp. His smug eyes peek up at Kaoru through his lashes. “Very well, I’ll be holding you to that  ♪”

“N...Not when I need to be in a Live though!”

“Of course,” Shu scoffs, tearing a piece of cotton candy and feeding it to Kaoru this time. “As if I’d ever ruin art.”

A lesser-known tabloid runs an article about them that very weekend, the image of Shu pressing cotton candy to Kaoru’s mouth front and center. Kaoru nearly laughs his guts out at it when he reads the bit about Shu’s ‘stay overseas’ giving him ‘affectionate French mannerisms.’ 

He cuts the picture out and frames it.


End file.
